Victor
Storing your batches
Now that you’ve planned your meals purchased your groceries, and cooked your meats, it is time to portion them in the batch sizes you need and prepare them for the week in the fridge or long-term storage in the freezer.
For my family, I portion meats in 1.5-pound batches. For example, I will portion 1.25-1.5 pounds of the Batch Taco Meat in a vacuum seal bag. This ensures that I have enough taco meat for taco night for my family. If someone eats something else, or not a lot, I will have a little leftover for lunch. Still a win.
All of the batch recipes are based on feeding 4 people 1-2 servings each, so you may need to adjust the batches based on your family’s needs.
If I don’t have any more of the batch I just made in the freezer, and I’m using the item in the next day or two, I will store the batch in a storage container such as the Brilliance storage containers by Rubbermaid.
If I already have that item made, and I’m preparing more batches to freeze, then I vacuum seal the portions and freeze them flat. This makes storage easier and thawing faster. I do not let the meat get frozen in a large ball; I flatten it out so that it can stack in the freezer and thaw quickly in the refrigerator.
That is how you never throw any out. It will all get used. You can even give meals to family members this way. If you want to send someone back home with a meal after they’ve visited you, you can simply give them the components, and they can put it together when they are ready. It won’t go to waste with them either.
One Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law needed some more shredded cheese for macaroni and cheese. Fortunately, I had it on hand, and the cool thing was that I also had an extra batch of my macaroni and cheese that she could have used. She didn’t need it, though, just the cheese. But it was cool to have that batch side dish available to give to her if she needed it.
When it’s time to eat
When you are ready to make dinner, simply reheat the batch meat portion and use it in the meal that you are making. You’ve already saved so much time by cooking many of them ahead of time, that dinner time doesn’t seem like such a chore.
